Generation and simulation of building designs for energy and comfort performance

Abstract

A design generation and simulation workflow for generating design layouts and executing simulations of the design layouts to generate energy and comfort performance metrics that indicate the energy efficiency and occupant-comfort levels associated with the design layouts. As described herein, the design workflow includes five phases including 1) configuring a design generation application, 2) generating design layouts via the design generation application, 3) generating energy models for the design layouts, 4) configuring simulations on the energy models, and 5) executing the configured simulations on the energy models and generating comparative results based on the simulation results of multiple simulations.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for performing an energy-analysis simulation, the method comprising:
 determining a first energy model that represents a first design layout for a building;   determining a first comfort model specifying a first comfort range based on a first demographic group associated with the building;   causing a first energy-analysis simulation to be executed on the first energy model based on the first comfort model to generate a first set of simulation results; and   displaying the first set of simulation results.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the first demographic group comprises a demographic group of occupants expected to occupy the building. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the first demographic group is based on at least one of culture information, gender information, or income level information. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the first comfort model specifies a comfort range associated with the first demographic group. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the first comfort model comprises at least one of a Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model, an adaptive comfort model (ACM) model, or an exceedance comfort model. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining a first occupancy model that is based on occupancy patterns associated with at least one of a during-COVID time period or a post-COVID time period, wherein the first energy-analysis simulation is executed on the first energy model further based on the first occupancy model to generate the first set of simulation results. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining a climate-conditioning mode comprising at least one of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) mode, a natural ventilation (NV) mode, or a multi-mode (MM) mode, wherein the first energy-analysis simulation is executed on the first energy model further based on the climate-conditioning mode to generate the first set of simulation results. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining climate data associated with a location of the building, wherein the first energy-analysis simulation is executed on the first energy model further based on the climate data to generate the first set of simulation results. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 causing a second energy-analysis simulation to be executed on the first energy model to generate a second set of simulation results;   generating a set of comparative results based on an analysis of the first set of simulation results and the second set of simulation results; and   displaying the set of comparative results.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 causing a second energy-analysis simulation to be executed on a second energy model that represents a second design layout for the building to generate a second set of simulation results;   generating a set of comparative results based on an analysis of the first set of simulation results and the second set of simulation results; and   displaying the set of comparative results.   
     
     
         11 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform an energy-analysis simulation by performing the steps of:
 determining a first energy model that represents a first design layout for a building;   determining a first comfort model specifying a first comfort range based on a first demographic group associated with the building;   causing a first energy-analysis simulation to be executed on the first energy model based on the first comfort model to generate a first set of simulation results; and   displaying the first set of simulation results.   
     
     
         12 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein the first demographic group is selected from among a plurality of different demographic groups. 
     
     
         13 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein the first demographic group is based on at least one of culture information, gender information, or income level information. 
     
     
         14 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein the first comfort model specifies a comfort range associated with the first demographic group. 
     
     
         15 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein the first comfort model comprises at least one of a Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model, an adaptive comfort model (ACM) model, or an exceedance comfort model. 
     
     
         16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , further comprising determining a first occupancy model that is based on occupancy patterns associated with a time period defined by a pandemic event, wherein the first energy-analysis simulation is executed on the first energy model further based on the first occupancy model to generate the first set of simulation results. 
     
     
         17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , further comprising determining a climate-conditioning mode comprising at least one of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) mode, a natural ventilation (NV) mode, or a multi-mode (MM) mode, wherein the first energy-analysis simulation is executed on the first energy model further based on the climate-conditioning mode to generate the first set of simulation results. 
     
     
         18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , further comprising determining climate data associated with a location of the building, wherein the first energy-analysis simulation is executed on the first energy model further based on the climate data to generate the first set of simulation results. 
     
     
         19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 causing a second energy-analysis simulation to be executed on the first energy model based on a second comfort model to generate a second set of simulation results;   generating a set of comparative results based on an analysis of the first set of simulation results and the second set of simulation results; and   displaying the set of comparative results.   
     
     
         20 . A computer system comprising:
 a memory that includes instructions; and   at least one processor that is coupled to the memory and, upon executing the instructions, perform an energy-analysis simulation by performing the steps of:
 determining a first energy model that represents a first design layout for a building; 
 determining a first comfort model specifying a first comfort range based on a first demographic group associated with the building; 
 causing a first energy-analysis simulation to be executed on the first energy model based on the first comfort model to generate a first set of simulation results; and 
 displaying the first set of simulation results.